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Anime and Manga

The use of the term "Esper" (see below) in The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya is used by Haruhi in the context of "has special powers", although the original meaning of Alfred Bester and those he inspired is generally specific to telepathy or at least Psychic Powers in general. This is the result of an unusual translation convention. The original Japanese uses the far-more-generic "chōnōryokusha", which can be broken down literally into "super ability person".

A Certain Magical Index also uses nōryokusha (literally "Ability User") to describe beings who gain supernatural powers by scientific means. The term nōryokusha is commonly translated in the fandom as "Esper"note Though this is technically incorrect for many of the characters as it implies the acquisition of ESP, and proved to be so popular that SevenSeas eventually switched their official translations from the original "Psychic" to "Esper" after lobbying by fans.

Contractors, in reference to the powers they have which they "repay" through Remunerations (rituals that must be done each time they use their powers). That being said, the term also calls to mind contract killing and Private Military Contractors, which are both pretty accurate descriptions of the type of jobs Contractors tend to be involved in.

Dolls, who have little personal volition and whose powers usually focus on ESP through a chosen medium.

Forfeiters, contractors who lost their powers and regained their emotions.

Tiger & Bunny has NEXT. The NEXT that put on costumes and fight crime, however, are still called superheroes (or just heroes).

Medaka Box: Those with overpowering abilities (such as killing intent, analysis , and super reflexes) are known as Abnormals, which includes the protagonist as well. Later in the story, as more types are introduced (Pluses and Minuses and Not Equals, oh my), they start getting called Skill Holders.

One Piece: Considering the primary origin of superpowers in the series, most people of the type are simply referred to as Devil Fruit users. Individual users are referred to as an "X-person"; Luffy is called a Rubberman, Miss Doublefinger is a Spikewoman, Mr. One is a Blademan (funnily enough, his fruit is the "supa supa" in Japanese, and his secret dream is to be a costumed crusader, so he's a "supa-man"), etc.

Gangsta has the Twilight, a "race" of people who are technically human but are for the most part considered monsters due to their Super Strength, Super Speed, etc. The genesis of the Twilight comes from the Psycho SerumCélèbre, a highly addictive drug created a century ago for use in wartime - but when it was found that Twilights had both drastically decreased lifespans compared to normal humans and that the child of any Twilight would almost certainly be born Twilight themselves the minority group was quickly shafted into becoming aSlave Racefor the majority.

My Hero Academiainverts this trope. 80% of the world's population have some sort of superpower (referred in-universe as "Quirks"), meaning that superpowered individuals are actually the norm (however, not every superpowered individual becomes a superhero, with most of them living ordinary lives). As such, the term "Quirkless" is often used to refer to those individuals who belong to the remaining 20% of the population who have no superpowers.

PS238 also uses the term "metahuman." The superpowered kids are "metaprodigies".

The Marvel Universe takes care to distinguish between "mutants" (people who develop superpowers through an inherited trait) and "mutates" (people who gain powers due to exposure of foreign elements), mainly because of the Fantastic Racism against the former (the pejorative term "mutie" is quite popular among anti-mutant bigots).

Ironically, many superhumans are still mistaken for mutants, with Spider-Man at the top of the list.

Mutants can further be broken down into Alpha, Beta, and Omega, in reference to how well they can control their power: Alphas are able to turn theirs on or off at will, like Jubilee, Shadowcat or Colossus; while Betas' powers are always active, like Wolverine, Cyclops, or Rogue. Omegas are rare (by which we mean 90% of the main cast are listed as such at one point or another) and are basically some of the most powerful beings in the universe — the prime example of an Omega is Jean/Phoenix. There are also lower Gamma/Delta levels for mutants who just got screwed, like the one whose sole power was a ten-foot neck, and those who didn't get (or lost) the Required Secondary Powers they needed.

Lampshaded in Peter David's X-Factor run. Strong Guy gets angry at the media's use of "mutant" as a pejorative buzzword, and says they prefer being called "Genetically Challenged, or GeeCees for short." He later tells Havok he did it to divert the reporters' attention, but much to Havok's dismay, the term stuck (at least, during David's run on the book).

"Costume" is sometimes used as a noun to refer to people who dress up in spandex and fight or cause crime, regardless of whether they have powers or not.

"Cape" is a similar term in the DCU, and the DCAU gives us the great line, "Uh-oh. Long-johns at 10 o'clock!"

"Cape" is occasionally used in the MU as well, despite the rarity of Marvel superheroes actually wearing capes. One notable instance in World War Hulk has a soldier reporting into General Thunderbolt Ross that the Hulk is "mixing it up with the last of the Capes", while the Hulk is fighting a team of heroes that don't wear a single cape between them.

In the New Excalibur series, Pete Wisdom would similarly disparage superhero-types by referring to them "skin-tights".

In early issues of Daredevil, the title character is referred to as a "costumed adventurer".

Of course, the public did not know of Daredevil's blindness, and thus his metahuman senses, so they had no reason not to presume him a "costumed hero" (term used by Max Allan Collins in Amazing Heroes #119) similar to the early Night Raven, the pulp Shadow (who could not "cloud men's minds"), the Spider, the Green Hornet, the Phantom (of Phantom Detective Magazine), etc.

Runaways once featured an arc where they ended up in 1907, while there they ran across multiple gangs of super-powered teenagers called "wonders". While some of these kids were obviously using magical or mechanically-based powers, a good number were undoubtedly mutants or mutates.

As does Empowered, even though many superheroes are perfectly human there. Empowered also uses "capes" as a general superhuman term (Black Capes and White Capes for villains and heroes, respectively) "superchicas" for female superheroes and "supervill" for supervillains. "Superhero" and "supervillain" are still sometimes used, however.

In the works of Alan Moore's America's Best Comics (ABC) series (Top 10, Promethea, Tom Strong and others), superheroes are referred to as "science heroes", (even the obviously magical ones). This was because the publisher Wildstorm, of which ABC was an imprint, was initially an independent company and therefore restricted from using the term "superhero" the trademark to which DC and Marvel have the joint trademark.. By the time that DC acquired Wildstorm (much to Alan's displeasure) the ABC titles were already far enough into their run that "science hero" was retained.

Warren Ellis is fond of the term "underwear perverts". This extends to all superheroes in his view, not just powered ones. But then, it's Warren Ellis and to him, everything is about sex and corruption.

In The Golden Age of Comic Books, before the word "superhero" even existed, costumed adventurers both powered and Badass Normal were sometimes, on the rare occasions they were called any collective term, referred to as "mystery men". This is a common term in Golden Age throwback series, and the source of the title of Mystery Men. It's far more common now in Retcon references to that time than it ever was in the actual Golden Age comics, due to the modern prevalence of the shared universe concept, as opposed to the mostly isolated solo adventures common to the period.

In Earth 2, superheroes are often called "wonders" because Wonder Woman was the first hero in this dimension, whereas Superman was the first in the main DCU, ergo "superheroes".

The current Legion Of Superheroes distinguishes between "planetary adaptated" (people who have a "superpower" that everyone on their planet can do, like Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Mon-El) and "uniques" (people who have acquired powers somehow, like Lightning Lad, Ultra Boy and Chemical King).

Animated Films

The Incredibles used the shortened form "Super" for all people with powers. Probably apt, since having powers doesn't necessarily mean you are (or were) a hero.

Literature

The Wild Cards series distinguishes among Aces (people infected with the wild card virus who gain superpowers), Jokers (people who survived the wild card virus but who were horribly mutated as a result), and Deuces (people who weren't mutated by the virus, but who got reallylame powers). Naturally, there is some overlap among the three: The prime example is the heroine/TV host Peregrine, who is technically a Joker because she grew wings, but is considered an Ace because they're functional, let her fly, and are sexy. (The official term in the book's universe is "metahuman". It's rarely used outside of scientific literature, though.)

There's also a fourth designation, that the vast majority of contractees fall into: The Black Queen. This is the term for death by the Wild Card virus (with all manner of Nightmare Fuel and Body Horror)

And "exotic" was used briefly during the early years after the Wild Card virus was first released; the official name of the Four Aces was "Exotics For Democracy".

Xanth has three classes of superpower. Mundane: No magic. Magician: Incredibly powerful magic. The rest of Xanth's inhabitants (with no special name, other than "everybody") each have a magic talent that falls between the two extremes. Those who can do exceedingly minor things like conjuring rotten pineapples or chlorinating water are referred to in A Spell for Chameleon as having "Spot on the Wall"-type talents, from the ultimate example: making a small, colored spot appear on the wall.

Many fictional realms class their extranormal individuals as witches, or (in older works) witch for female and warlock for male.

Likewise, in Harry Potter, all magically-endowed people are Wizards or Witches. The books imply that other terms like "warlock" are also used, but the differences, if they exist, are not touched upon.

In The Tales of Beedle the Bard, it is explained that "warlock" is a title for a very powerful/accomplished wizard, similar to being given the title of knight.

The term Esper (from ESP User) was once used fairly frequently in science fiction to denote someone with Psychic Powers. Such authors as Alfred Bester, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein and Christopher Stasheff have used it in this context. Not to mention those cheerful children in AKIRA.

The Temps shared world of tongue-in-cheek British superheroics used "paranorm". As well as the accepted and standard term, however, it was also a slur used by All of the Other Reindeer. The powered individuals themselves preferred "Talented".

Ayize Jama-Barrett's novel The Liminal People has the protagonist referring to himself and other superpowered individuals as "liminal" or existing in a liminal state as they are usually on the fringes of society.

In Shadow Ops, anyone who can use magic is referred to as a "Latent." Those who choose to not be subject to the Super Registration Act are called "Selfers" for their apparent "selfishness."

In Relativity, "cape" is a derogatory term for superheroes, mostly used by cops who believe that superheroes should not be "interfering" in police business. (The regular, non-derogatory words used are just "superhero" or "crimefighter".)

In The Stormlight Archive the proper term is Surgebinder. Radiant is often but inaccurately used, but actually means being a member of the Knights Radiant, several orders composed of people who are Surgebinders. There's also Lift, who insists that the name for it is "being awesome".

Mistborn: The Original Trilogy, by the same author, has Mistings, who can use one of the Allomantic powers, and Mistborn, who can use all of them. Mistings and Mistborn collectively are known as Allomancers. There are also Feruchemists, who can use all Feruchemical powers.

The sequel series Wax And Wayne adds Ferrings (one Feruchemical power) and Twinborn (one Allomantic and one Feruchemical power).

Yet another Brandon work, The Reckoners Trilogy, uses the term "Epics". "Superhero" was hardly appropriate, since very nearlyevery Epic is irredeemably evil.

People with powers fall into several different groups, referred to by different names. The zombie-like screamers are called chorus by the Composer, the singers are called conductors, and the people who are not under the Composer's direct control are called speakers by the general public and directors by the Composer (with those who follow the Composer willingly called renegades or Blackguards, to mirror the Paladins who are the primary group of speakers). The one at the top is simply called the Composer by both sides; it's implied he deliberately seeded that name on the internet beforehand.

Inverted with the toy maker. There's no general term for the people who use it, though they are referred to whatever culture they belong to, that's more comparable to nationality. People who are not obviously modified are referred to as "baseline."

In The Curse Workers people with magical powers are commonly called "curse workers" or simply "workers"; the Technobabble term is "hyperbathygammic" or "HBG". "Heebiejeebies" is a somewhat derogatory term derived from the latter. Archaic terms include "theurgists" and "dab hands"

In Rumor's Block, super powered individuals are referred to as Walkers due to a peice of viral graffiti that appeared around the time of the first public super hero.

In The Laundry Series superpowers (actually the ability to instinctively cast ritual magic, but best that the general public not know that) manifest at various levels of power, generally falling on a normal distribution. Empowered people are referred to by those in the know in terms of standard deviations ("sigma") above the mean, and superpowereds are generally referred to in this way, with a moderately superpowered individual referred to as a "2-sigma" for example.

Live Action TV

It is apparently public policy in the real world to refer to the mutants on Heroes as, well, "Heroes". This ignores the ones that are apathetic to the cause of Justice ™, have their own neutral agendas, are incidental to the plot, or, let's face it, are just plain evil.

In-show, though, collective terms are rarely used, other than vague terms such as "others like me".

In the dystopian future where it's common knowledge that there are people with powers, they tend to be referred to as "the special people". The online comics show that it's apparently "The Company"'s policy to describe them as "specials". Danko of Volume 4 used "Specials" at least once.

Volume 4 seems to have Danko's Cape Busters team refer to them mainly as "individuals with abilities".

Season 3 supervillain Knox quite straightforwardly refers to people like him as "supers", although he's pretty much alone in doing so.

Sanctuary uses the term "abnormals" for humans with strange qualities.

They also use the term to refer to non-human cryptids, such as merpeople and sasquatch. It is not clear whether the term also applies to the non-sentient cryptids — no one has yet used the term directly when talking about a specific non-sentient animal, but Magnus does refer to the Sanctuary's residents collectively as "abnormals".

The 4400 refers to the 4,400 people with superpowers as "returnees", due to the way they were abducted from the past and then returned all at once with powers added. Those who acquire their powers in the present day using the Super Serum Promicin are unnamed.

The term "p-positive" has been used, short for "promicin-positive" with the plural being simply "p-positives".

Smallville called people with special powers "Meteor Freaks", though "metahuman" came into use for non-Green Rocks empowered superhumans.

On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, all supernatural beings are collectively referred to as demons regardless of their moral stance. The Initiative coins the term "HST" or "hostile sub-t" (for Hostile Sub-Terrestrial), probably because it would not go over well having to tell the Congressional budgetary comittee that they need money to fight "demons"...

In Firefly, psychics are informally referred to as "readers." While the term is only used once in the series itself, it's apparently common enough that when Mal says he thinks River is a reader, Zoe immediately responds with "Psychic?"

Mutant X uses the slightly strange term "New Mutants". No mention is ever made of "Old Mutants". Maybe it's to distinguish their differences from actual mutations.

In Haven, the Troubled are people who have started to (or always did) display strange powers.

The second pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series used the term "Esper" a few times, referring to those whose ESP ratings were higher than average, normal Human or not. No doubt borrowed the term from Asimov.

Grimm uses the term "Wesen" (German for "creature" and pronounced with a "v" sound) for humans with a super natural side. Each kind of Wesen has a specific name, usually in faux-German (the original Grimms were German, after all), although a few of the names are in French (e.g. Mauvais Dentes), Russian (e.g. Koschie), Spanish (e.g. El Cucuy), Eastern Maninkakan (e.g. Jinnamuru Xunte), etc.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the term "Gifted" to describe individuals with superhuman abilities. Word of God states this is because the show can't use the word "Mutant" due to Fox having the rights to the X-Men franchise. "Enhanced" and "powered people" also get thrown around in the second season, with Simmons actually complaining at one point that categorizing them under a blanket term isn't working because it doesn't differentiate between genetically intrinsic gifts and those gained through outside sources such as experimentation. The issue is further clouded by the Inhumans, who have a genetically intrinsic gift that must be activated by an outside source.

The 2014 version of The Flash uses "metahumans", just like the comics, as does Supergirl on the few occasions where they fight empowered humans.

Non-Aberrant Psychics have a separate terminology: they're called "mesmerists" in Adventure!, "psychs" in Aberrant and "psions" in the future setting of Trinity.

The superhero RPG Brave New World uses the term "deltas" to refer to heroes, as delta represents the process of change in scientific formulae. Particularly powerful "evolved" delta heroes are called "alphas".

And if some other books ever saw light, there could be omegas and infinities.

They're not superheroes by any means, but Warhammer 40,000 calls those poor bastards born with mental powers "Psykers."

They also use abhumans for stable human subspecies (like Ratlings) that are on the Imperium's good side and mutants for those that are not.

There are two types of mutant — the oppressed underclass who generally want to rebel and throw off the yoke of Imperial brutality, and the Chaos-powered maniacs who want to eat your children as a sacrifice to the Dark Gods. Type I can easily become Type II...

GURPS Supers uses "supers," naturally enough, throughout the rules, but within the "house setting" of the International Super Teams world, "metahuman" or "meta" is preferred (at least in English-speaking countries; other languages have their own terms).

The eponymous Exalted are defenders of Creation, and they regularly face: demons from Hell, the legions of the dead, mutant fairy elves from beyond reality, and themselves. Mostly themselves. In second edition, to hammer the point that they're supes, each type of Exalt has their own Supernatural Martial Arts, called (Exalt-type) Hero-style.

Video Games

In City of Heroes the superpowerful characters are generally just referred to as heroes or villains.

Different factions in the game have different names — among them "capes", "cowls", "cloaks", "masks" (black mask for villains) and "Boy Scouts". The Circle of Thorns sorcerous society calls them "the Gifted". Arachnos calls their freelance supervillains "Destined Ones" as part of their overarching metaplot, while Malta, the the high-tech secret anti-hero conspiracy, refers to them as "metahumans". Otherwise, you'll find people using just about any term on the list.

People exposed to element zero in utero have a chance of developing gravity-warping powers. They are known as biotics. Justified in that it isn't pure brainpower that lets them perform incredible feats, and several in-universe sources hint that the name was deliberately chosen to keep people from misunderstanding what biotics are capable of (e.g. no mindreading). The asari complicate matters, as they are all biotics and they do appear able to read minds. This is related to their method of reproduction (synching their nervous system with that of another person), however, and not biotic at all.

Further complicated by Protheans, who were capable of scanning someone with a touch and transferring memories the same way. This is why their beacons are psychic. They just didn't realize that this ability wouldn't manifest in the next cycle.

Fable refers to all humans with supernatural powers as "Heroes," regardless of whether they are good or evil. They bear more resemblance to ancient Greek heroes who were more interested in fame and glory than the more modern 'good' hero meaning.

The superpowered humans in inFAMOUS are referred to as "Conduits." The gene that marks a human as a Conduit allows one to channel, or be a conduit for, Ray Field Energy and gain superpowers through exposure to it. The Good ending of the second game has Cole destroy all conduits (including himself) in order to save the Muggles of the world while the Evil ending has the reverse happening... At least until inFAMOUS: Second Son, which reveals that Conduits survived and are now treated as "Bio-Terrorists" by the Department of Unified Protection.

In New Vindicators, the superhumans are called Super Powered Beings ("speeb" is an insulting term), with further sub groups. Those who have psionic powers (that any human can potentially unlock) are called Espers, while the majority are called Neo-Sapiens. The Neos are descended from Biblical Nephilim, the children of fallen angels and humans, and Nephilim are still around, though few know of them as a distinct group.

The Descendants sees the news media and most mature people using 'prelate' instead of superhero while the younger generation calls a spade a spade.

It also uses the word 'psychic' to describe everyone with superpowers, whether that accurately describes their powers or not. The word 'descendant' is starting to displace that, though, now that the origins of their powers are confirmed.

In the Whateley Universe, they're "mutants", unless they're called named by someone who doesn't like them. "Gene filth", "gene deviant", and so on. There are also various types supers who are not mutants: they're "Imbued" (Think Captain Marvel), "Dynamorph" (An external creature called a dynamorph bonding with you), and"Origin" (Pretty much anything else.),. There are also "mages" who are skilled in the use of magic but not because of a mutation, and also various supernatural entities such as spirits, gods (apparently), and werewolves.

Bloody Urban uses "Paranormals" as a broad term which includes all manner of supernatural characters, and "Indigos" as a term for humans born with Psychic Powers. (These people have indigo auras, hence the name.)

Stone Burners makes use of both superhumans, metahumans and parahumans.

In Super Stories, the narrator Veldron refers to such people as superhumans, but this may not be universal — the superpowered police force is called the Metapatrol, for instance.

In the Global Guardians PBEM Universe, the official, scientific term for superhumans is "meta-powered humans". But outside of the scientific journals, you'll generally never encounter the term. Most people just call them "supers".

The ASH universe refers to the most powerful as Supernaturals and the lesser lights as Supernormals.

Destine Enormity uses the phrase "Power Users," although its opposite term, "Normals," is more commonly used. They rarely need to talk about Power Users, in much the same way that fish rarely need to talk about water.

Worm refers to people with powers in general as "parahumans," while those who put on a costume and try to become a villain or hero are referred to as "capes." Parahumans who try to settle down and have a normal life are referred to as "rogues."

"Reality Benders. Type Greens. Mary Sues. Bixbies, Shapers, Wizards, Gods, Devils, Outside Observers, call them what you will, these are the guys that change reality based on perception and willpower."

Anomaly and Anomalous are used to describe the category of SCP objects in general, and is the only official term used to describe the objects in general. As such, human (or human-like) SCPs are described as anomalous. Likewise, individuals affected by an SCP to have unusual properties are described as, simply, 'affected' or 'anomalous', with anomalous being used when the effect seems to be long term and stable, in which case the individual will receive a number designation based on what affected them, or in rare cases, a new SCP.

Enter the Farside has two types of superpowered individuals: 'Farborn' are born randomly with unique abilities and are identified by unusual events happening at the moment of their birth. 'Fargraced' are people who are unfortunate enough to randomly slip through a crack in reality and enter the Farside, usually coming back as a gibbering, crying wreck with special powers.

For even more classifications, people who work for the NFU (National Farside Unit) are known as 'Agents', whilst people that don't that aren't criminals are known as 'Independant Operatives'.

In Arrow And Ace, powers are called "talents". Those who use them are called "talent users" though official supers are still known as heroes.

Western Animation

Static Shock uses "Bang Baby" to describe humans mutated by the industrial gas explosion known as the "Big Bang" and Static himself considers the term mutant to be degrading (take that, X-Men). Eventually they settle on 'metahuman' as more non-Big Bang supers started showing up (and when the show became a more established part of the DCAU).

Young Justice uses the term "Metahuman" to describe people born with superhuman abilities. There's even a Meta-Gene that factors heavily into the second season.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, the ability to control one of the four elements is called "bending". Bending is common but not universal amongst people in the world, and the four different bending styles are divided between four major ethnic/national/genetic groups. The Avatar is one person reincarnated in each generation who has the power to bend all four elements (and also a fifth element ability), and is born in a cyclical movement between the four primary bending groups. Aang, the Avatar during The Last Airbender is...well an Airbender. His predecessor was the Firebender Roku and his successor and protagonist of her own show is the Waterbender Korra.

The term E.V.O. (Exponentially Variegated Organism) in Generator Rex is used to describe any living being with active nanites. Unlike other examples, due to there being potentially active nanites all over the world, the term can apply to anything alive. During the course of the show; humans, animals, plants, fungi, virus and even aliens have become E.V.O.s due to the nanites.

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